Acts !7:16

Acts 17:16 says, Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Paul waited in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw a whole city given to idolatry.  He was not stirred to anger, but to compassion. When we see the world today given to idolatry, we need to be stirred in our spirit with compassion.  Verse seventeen adds, Therefore, disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him.  Paul disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, and with devout people, and in the marketplace daily with those he encountered. It is not enough to only witness in the church.  We need to witness daily in the world.  Paul had already been beaten more than once, thrown into prison, and threatened everywhere he had been recently, but he was preaching in the marketplace.  We often hear someone say that they are a Christian, but they aren't a religious fanatic.  It is time we become Christian fanatics.  I think we can safely say that Paul was one.  When he saw a city lost in idolatry, he was moved with compassion to share the gospel with them.  Now, we may say that we don't share the gospel more often because we don't want to look like a nut by being too vocal about our faith.  Look how Paul fared. Verse eighteen continues, Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection.  Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers he encountered said "What will this babbler say," and others said, "He seemeth a setter forth of strange God's," because he preached Jesus, and the resurrection. Basically, they were saying that they wanted to see what this nut had to say.  To them, he was babbling foolishness, but at least they came to hear.  The lost in the world will never hear the gospel if Christians don't proclaim it in the world.  We need to worry less about where we cannot share the gospel and spend more time sharing it where we know we can.  The Epicureans believed in humanism and the denial of all religious superstition and divine intervention.  They believed that pleasure and the absence of pain were the highest goals.  The Stoics believed in denying all emotional feelings, that everything was based on logic, and would have classified religious feelings as false.  So their understanding of Paul would have been that he was a babbler. Humanism and logic are nothing new, but we need not fear nor surrender to them.